Stochastic defect removal coating for high-performance extreme ultraviolet lithography

Abstract

To reduce the stochastic defect caused by insufficient photon numbers of extreme ultraviolet lithography, a simple additional process has been designed and experimented. The additional process consists of one coating and washing process after pattern formation by lithography. The coating material was named stochastic defect removal coating and was carefully designed to reduce the stochastic defects without harming the lithographic margin. The defect reduction up to 48% was accomplished by failure-free latitude measurement and defect inspection.